Govt seeks huge MSME participation to ‘Make in India’ with defence

Government is in talks to on-board upto 80 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), to do away with India’s dependence on imported war materials. The urgent need to manufacture defence equipments within the nation itself has come up after a recent report of CAG which claims Indian Army lags in ammunition stock to survive more than 10 days in case of a war.

According to the report, while the army should keep 40 days worth stock in reserve for war situations, India has enough only for 10 days. Also, it has been reported that only 20 per cent of 152 types of ammunition are available with the army.

To improve the state of Indian Army, the government will now focus on indigenous materials by reducing its dependence on imported ammunitions. It has claimed that the lag is due to untimely import of the necessary goods, which can be avoided only by manufacturing it within the country.

For achieving its required amount of stock, the government is now looking upto the MSME sector which will manufacture important components and equipments for the army.

The government is also organising a two-day event from July 25 in New Delhi, engaging a large-scale MSME participation. Through the event, government aims to inform MSMEs about the necessary parts and equipment of Indian Army. Post this, MSME units may be assigned with the responsibility to manufacture components of AK47, T-90 and Bofors guns for army.

Indian MSME units have already been engaged in the manufacturing of small components for the defence sector. These units also contributed in the Mangalyaan Mission by providing many required components. With the outlook of the government, it is likely the sector’s contribution to defense will be enormous.